Peace in Christmas – Frail but Everlasting

Watching Amy Goodman on TV on December 8th was my defining moment of this 2006 Christmas season. “Democracy Now” carried a live interview with two members of the “Christian Peacemaking Team” who had just concluded a press conference in London. These are the hostages who were kidnapped on November 26, 2005 and held for 118 days before being freed by British and American forces on March 23, 2006. Tom Fox, an American citizen and full-time member of the CPT team working in Baghdad at the time, was kidnapped with them and murdered on March 9, 2006.
What moved me deeply was the unmistakeable witness to justice and love seamlessly within a major news broadcast. Goodman’s interview was measured and nuanced, as always, such that due deference was given to “the message of constructive forgivenes” as ” highly significant in demonstrating how to move beyond violence and revenge.”
I did not see any of this carried on any of the other broadcast networks nor in the mainstreamed news agencies. Nevertheless, seeing an indepth live interview following a press conference whose sole purpose was a call for forgiveness……..well that made my day and my Christmas season.
Merry Christmas.